Writing Reading Life

Break out the napkins, parmesan and red pepper flakes because it is National Pizza Month.

I love random holidays. Some of them are hilarious, like Collect Rocks Day (September 16, it just passed so mark your calendars for next year) or Admit You’re Happy Month (August). (Admit it or else!)

This month is a great one though. It’s National Pizza Month. Why on earth is a blog focused on books and writing talking about pizza? Well, firstly, pizza is a great. I feel like that is reason enough. But, in case you need something more book-y, it’s also a main food group for one of the characters in my book, The Travelers. So, I thought an ode to the pie would be appropriate.

As a former NYC resident…

…You need to understand that pizza is very important, even for someone like me who can’t eat gluten. (Real condition, not a choice.) Regardless, pizza is a wonderful, amazing, super food. Some really smart people in Congress claim it’s even a vegetable, despite not being made of any vegetables at all. (Newsflash: tomatoes are a fruit. But who needs to listen to that silly thing called science.) I can’t argue with their logic, or lack thereof, if it keeps pizza on the menu!

Now, how do I plan to honor the pizza?

Well, I’m not aware of a ton of fiction books about pizza, but I did manage to find some! Apparently John Grisham has a book called Playing for Pizza. There’s also something called the Pizza Lovers Mystery Series by Chris Cavender. Oh and there is a Scooby Doo book called The Pizza Place Ghost. That’s the best I could do in the fiction pizza book realm.

Beyond books? Dare I even suggest it?

I decided to look beyond books (gasp!) and pivot to other types of media – TV, movies, the internet – for a few more “slices” of pizza goodness. There were plenty of options out there to “serve” my pizza needs. Below are highlights of some of my favorite pizza-related media and entertainment.

Best pizza-themed movie: Mystic Pizza

Best use of pizza as a bad guy: Pizza the Hut in Spaceballs

Best animal-related pizza video: Pizza rat

Best rant about pizza: Jon Stewart’s bit on how to properly eat pizza (spoiler: fold it people!)